Violin Masters: Two Gentlemen of Cremona

Violin Masters: Two Gentlemen of Cremona Previous Broadcasts

Narrated by Alfred Molina, this film examines the amazing confluence of time and talent that occurred in the early years of the 17th century, when the two greatest violinmakers in history were working within steps of each other in the small Italian town of Cremona. One, Antonio Stradivari, is a household name; the other, Guarneri del Gesi, is considered a genius equal in every way to Stradivari, yet most outside of the music community have never heard of him. Why is that? Eminent historians and experts such as Charles Beare, Carlo Chiesa and Duane Rosengard weigh in on differences in productivity, clientele, life span, working technique and the "PR" factor that characterized the two artists, while 10 of the world's leading violinists, from Itzhak Perlman to Joshua Bell, share what makes them fall in love with a particular instrument and count on it, night after night, to enhance their sound. For unlike other Renaissance masterworks, these 300-year old Cremonese instruments of immense value are not kept under glass in museums; they are at once works of art --- and working tools. Credit for that lies not in arcane "secrets" of wood, varnish, beetles, or climate, but rather, in the hands and hearts of the men, Antonio Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesu, sculptors of the world's purest sound.

TV Technical Issues

TV Technical Issues

(DT9.1 through 9.3) KQED will be performing maintenance at Sutro Tower in the overnight hours early Thursday 12/08. We are
expecting a few power interruptions to take place and KQED will need to be off air for these. The outages are expected to
be brief.

(this is a continuation of the work originally announced for 11/28, which was not completed on Tuesday.) At some point during
the morning of Wednesday Nov. 30th, the KQEH transmitter will switch from its main antenna to the auxillary one, to allow
for the safety of workers doing maintenance for another TV station on the […]